Dmitry Medvedev speaking at a plenary session of the forum

Before the session, the Prime Minister viewed
the forum’s exhibition stands.

The Moscow Financial Forum is a platform for
professional discussions aimed to build up effective solutions in the sphere of
financial policy and enhance the competitiveness of the Russian economy.

MFF 2017 will focus on changing
the structure of the global financial system to promote economic growth, deal
with current challenges and ensure sustainable growth, as well as on
international experience and national features of the digitalisation of the
economy.

Today all of us are faced with tasks whose successful resolution
will determine global economic development for years and even decades. Financial
markets are a vital component of economic development. The current political
environment is not favourable for finding joint solutions, but we must continue
working under any conditions.

We highly appreciate the confidence of foreign
investors, who continue working in Russia because we can move forward despite
the restrictions. In some cases, these restrictions have even benefited our
development, although restrictions are never a positive solution and can only
lead into a dead-end.

Russia’s GDP growth accelerated to 2.5 percent in the
second quarter compared to the same period of last year. Investment growth
reached 6.3 percent. Foreign trade rates are surging back. Non-oil and gas
trade went up by over 25 percent in the first six months of the year. These are
visible signs of economic recovery.

Our goal is to boost our economic growth rate to the
world’s average and surpass it. The necessary mechanisms for attaining this
goal are available to us.

These mechanisms include the maintenance of favourable
macroeconomic conditions, primarily a record low inflation and a moderate and
gradually decreasing state budget deficit. The main principle of our budgetary
policy is the improvement of structural spending and the attainment of our
priorities as we see them.

We are reducing our dependence on the
fluctuation of global oil prices. With this aim in view, we have formalised a
new structure of the budgetary rule.

We are also creating conditions for
business development, the most important of which is a predictable and
transparent taxation policy. We also regulate non-tax payments and limit the
growth of tariff rates. Overall, the financial burden on good faith taxpayers
has not changed.

We will continue to reform the regulatory
system based on the principle of preventing, rather than punishing for
corruption crimes. We plan to submit a draft law to this effect at the current
parliamentary session.

We have proposed a number of additional
solutions in the sphere of investment. For example, we have expanded the SME
lending programme. We have paid out over 10 billion roubles under this
programme in July and August, primarily for investment purposes. We hope to
attain the approved target of some 50 billion roubles of additional allocations
by the end of the year.

The mechanism of the project financing factory must
become operational in the longer term. The federal budget for 2018-2020 stipulates
the annual allocation of some 50 subsidies worth in total some 70 billion
roubles to support investment projects in real economy sectors. The SME lending
programme and the project financing factory are structured so that the
influence of officials on any loan decisions will be precluded.

We must launch the infrastructure loan programme by
mid-2018. It is designed to increase private investment in infrastructure
projects.

We have adopted the Digital
Economy programme, which covers all spheres. Digitalisation not only amounts to a breakthrough achievement but
will also present new challenges. The blockchain distributed ledger technology involves
cryptocurrencies and the so-called smart contracts, which are expanding market
opportunities. On the other hand, the lack of common rules on using these
instruments is creating new market challenges. The world’s largest banks are
discussing joint operation in this sphere. The Russian banking community is
also working out its approaches to this.

Technological transformation based on digital economy
can promote an exponential growth of labour efficiency, but it can also kill
some professions and increase income inequality risks. It is critically
important for us to prepare the key government institutions, such as
healthcare, education, social assistance and employment support, for dealing
with these challenges. This involves the modernisation of state machinery, so
that all the standard and routine activities are digitalised.